Detroit
Sam Riddle says he expects to hire own attorney
DETROIT (AP) -- Political consultant Sam Riddle says even if a federal judge appoints a lawyer to represent him, he still expects to hire his own attorney in a second corruption trial in Detroit.
Riddle missed a 5 p.m. Monday deadline for informing the court if he has hired a lawyer. Judge Avern Cohn then scheduled a March 8 hearing at which he might appoint an attorney for Riddle.
Riddle tells The Associated Press he "knows who the lawyer will be" but must "keep raising money."
Riddle's second trial on conspiracy and extortion charges is scheduled to start July 12. He is accused of working with Monica Conyers to collect bribes when she was a Detroit City Council member.
A mistrial was declared last month when a jury failed to reach a verdict.
Albion
Albion physicist shares $900,000 computing grant
ALBION, Mich. (AP) -- Albion College physicist Aaron Miller is helping lead a $900,000 federal study to harness individual particles of light for a faster new generation of computers.
Miller and his colleagues seek to develop detectors to use in what are known as quantum computers. A quantum of light is called a photon.
Sharing the grant are University of Virginia professor Olivier Pfister and Sae Woo Nam of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Md.
Scientists have known for some time about the potential of quantum computers to achieve much higher operating speeds than current computers.
The National Science Foundation grant covers work on quantum computer hardware. Others are working on the software.
Detroit
New Independent Film Festival starts 6-day run
DETROIT (AP) -- The Detroit Independent Film Festival is kicking off its six-day run.
The new festival opened Tuesday and runs through Sunday at the Burton Theatre, a former school being used as a movie house. The festival had been scheduled to start Wednesday, but organizers added an extra day.
A highlight of the festival is the Michigan Film Awards. They're Saturday, a day before the Academy Awards. The Michigan awards are being given out at the Helen L. DeRoy Auditorium at Wayne State University.
The awards honor independent films and are selected by industry professionals and film critics.
Watervliet
Alleged drunken driver causes crash, hitchhikes
WATERVLIET, Mich. (AP) -- Police say a 40-year-old Watervliet man suspected of drunken driving rear-ended another vehicle, fled into nearby woods and was arrested while attempting to hitchhike.
Van Buren County sheriff officials tell WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids that the man struck a 41-year-old woman's vehicle after she pulled from her driveway about 8:15 p.m. EST Monday in Watervliet, about 160 miles west of Detroit. The collision sent the woman's vehicle off the road and man's vehicle into a ditch.
The man remains jailed and faces charges including operating while intoxicated, leaving the scene of an accident and failing to report an accident.
Published: Wed, Mar 3, 2010
